Welcome to Dakota County Minnesota Genealogy and History part of the Genealogy Trails Family Our goal is to help you track your ancestors through time by transcribing genealogical and historical data and placing it online for the free use of all researchers. This website is available for adoption! We're looking for folks who share our dedication to keeping Genealogy free and are interested in helping this project be as successful as we can make it. If you are interested in joining our group by hosting one of the available county websites, view our Volunteer Page for further information about us. [A desire to transcribe data and knowledge of how to make a basic webpage is required.] DONATE YOUR DATA! We welcome any information you may wish to provide for the free research of others. So, dust off those old scrapbooks you have in your attic, dig out those old newspapers, or anything else you feel is of interest to this County, and send them our way. We are looking for obituaries, newspaper stories, biographies, Birth, Death and Marriage records, as well as interesting newspaper tidbits from years gone past - the items YOU used to put together your family trees. If you have information that you'd like to share with us on the history of this county and its people, please SEND IT TO US and we'll make sure it gets posted online. We regret that we are unable to perform personal research for you. All data we come across is added to this site, so please keep checking back! County Information Founded October 27, 1849 Seat Hastings Largest city Eagan Dakota County is named after the Dakota Sioux tribal bands who settled in the area. The name is recorded as "Dahkotah" in U.S. Census records until 1851. The County is 587 square miles in area, originally vegetated with oak prairie savannas. Dakota County lies within the confluence of three of the four major rivers draining from the State of Minnesota -- the Minnesota and Mississippi Rivers along the northern border and the Mississippi and St. Croix Rivers on the eastern border. The County's development and history have been greatly influenced by its proximity to these rivers. Previous to European settlement, Dakota County was part of an expansive territory of the Dakota tribe of American Indians. In 1689, Nicholas Perrot, a fur trader, proclaimed possession of Dakota, Ojibwe (Chippewa), and other American Indian lands for the nation of France, without the consent of the tribes. Lands west of the Mississippi River were annexed from France to the United States in 1805 through the Louisiana Purchase. In 1849, the Minnesota Territory legislature created nine original counties, including Dakota. The County's original boundary extended only as far south as Hastings, but extended west several hundred miles to the Missouri River. The County seat was first established in Kaposia in 1853, was moved to Mendota in 1854, and moved again to Hastings in 1857, where it currently resides. Mendota, directly across the river from Fort Snelling, became the first European settlement in Minnesota. As American Indians were systematically removed from their lands and rebellions moved further to the west, large numbers of European settlers began arriving to the region in the mid-1850s. With increased population, Minnesota became a state in May 1858, nine years after the inception of Dakota County. Source: Dakota County Government - Submitted by John Bauer Townships Cities Castle Rock Township Douglas Township Empire Township Eureka Township Greenvale Township Hampton Township Marshan Township Nininger Township Randolph Township Ravenna Township Sciota Township Vermillion Township Waterford Township Apple Valley Burnsville Coates Eagan Farmington Hampton Hastings (part) Inver Grove Heights Lakeville Lilydale Mendota Mendota Heights Miesville New Trier Northfield (part) Randolph Rosemount South St. Paul Sunfish Lake Vermillion West St. Paul Online Data Biographies Births Cemeteries Census Church Histories / Records County Records Death Records Family Bibles County History Marriages Military Miscellaneous Data Newspaper Data Obituaries School Records Wills/Probate Records Website Updates: Apr. 2013: Births for Gregory & Wilson Nov. 2012: Obits: Atherton, Blackberg, Cole, Kennedy, McDermott, Rother, Todd Marriages: Anthony - Thompson; Barns - Herbst; Carlson - Gaeng; Fsby - Wiusen; Hubley - Horsch; Martin - Martin; Otts - Heichert; Riches - Weber; Schmit - Schweich; Smith - Jankey; Staff - Ehlers Bios: Faribault, Heerman, Olmstead; Truax, Twichell Sept. 2012: Bio: Norrish August 2012: Obit: Carlson July 2012: Bios: Butler, Caldwell; Obit: Densmore June 2012: Obit: Conison; Bios: Lovell, Nelson, Twichell May 2012: Bios: Abbott, Babcock Apr. 2012: Bios: Butler, Carpenter, Countryman, Donnelly, Empey, Follett, Gergen, McArthur, Parker, Sibley, Smith, Todd Mar. 2012: Obits: Gotelaere, Lockhart, Mears, Schwantes, Wagner; Bios: Chaffee, Chamberlain, Clark, Cobb, Countryman, Crosby, Crowley, Harrington; Marriage: Ward-Lyons Feb. 2012: Bios: DeKay, Sheppard Jan 2012: History of the county, including the First Settlers Dec 2011: Death certificates for BECK, SCHWANTES; list of Cemeteries Previous Updates: BERRY suicide death notice; County History; Township/City History; Civil War Enlistees, 1868 Hastings Business directory; WW II Casualties; Bio for CROWLEY SEARCH OUR SITES Join our Genealogy Trails Upper Midwestern States Mailing List to get email notices when our county sites are updated. 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